You Don’t Have To Let Go
by Secret Lily
Summary: After meeting up one night, Hermione and Draco start to wonder if there's more to their relationship than negative feelings. Oneshot.


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A/N: Thought I would try my hand at a different relationship. Well, see if you like it. Please review. This is a one-shot.

You Don't Have To Let Go

The sound of splashing water woke Hermione Granger from her peaceful slumber. She gazed around the sixth year dorms anxiously, wondering if anyone else had heard. Her face had small droplets of sweat slowly streaming down. The last month at Hogwarts was always an uncomfortable one, due to the summer heat.

Hermione pulled on her dressing gown over her pajamas and headed down the stairs. As a Prefect, it was her duty to investigate these type of things. She reached the doors that exited onto the grounds and felt the cool grass touch her feet as she headed out towards the lake. She saw a tall figure standing by the shore, throwing rocks into the water.

"Hey!" she yelled. "It's past curfew. Get to bed."

As the figure turned and smirked, his identity became clearer. She knew she was going to have a hard time with this one. Draco Malfoy's silvery blonde hair reflected brightly from the moonlight. His cold gray eyes were barely recognizable in the night.

"What are you going to do about it, Granger?" he dared her. She hated it when he teased her, made a laughing joke of her authority. Then again, Ron Weasley and Harry Potter made a joke of his.

"Report you to Snape," she insisted. Although she didn't particularly like Professor Severus Snape, she would go to him if she had to. Even she knew that this wouldn't get her very far. Malfoy was one of Snape's favorite students. He could get away with murder under Snape's supervision.

Malfoy laughed. "Like that will do any good."

"What are you doing out here?" Hermione questioned, eyeing the rocks peculiarly.

"None of your business, Mudblood," Malfoy sneered. He skipped another rock along the slow, gentle waves of the lake.

"We're seventeen years old," Hermione reminded him. "Isn't this Mudblood business getting old?"

"Isn't this know-it-all business getting tired?" Malfoy countered back.

Hermione gritted her teeth. "All these years I've had to listen to your incessant babbling about how pureblood is better than anything else. You only wish you were half the wizard as me."

"Let's get something straight, Granger," he said in a low dangerous voice. "I will never be jealous of you."

"What about poor Harry?" Hermione retorted. "You've done nothing but make his life hell since we've all gotten here."

"Don't even mention Potter's name," Draco stated, throwing a rock vigorously into the water. "He came here, famous for something he had no control over, and everyone worships the ground he walks on. Potter this, Potter that."

"He can't help that," Hermione insisted. "It's not like he enjoys it either."

"We'll just have to agree to disagree," Malfoy decided. "Go back to bed."

"I'll go back to bed when you go back to bed," Hermione challenged.

"Then you're going to be here a very long time," Draco told her. "Might as well grab a couple rocks, they take the pressure off of everything."

Hermione stubbornly took a seat by the shore, grabbed a handful of rocks, and started throwing them in. None of them skipped. Draco's gracefully glided across the rippled tide.

"No, no, no," Draco said as Hermione's rock plunked into the water. "You need to switch your wrist. Like this."

He demonstrated and Hermione watched. Soon, hers waded across the water elegantly as well. She couldn't help but grin.

.X.

"Snape has got to be the most insufferable man in the entire world," Harry Potter grumbled as he collected his things and started to move out of the classroom.

"I know," Ron whined. "Three rolls of parchment by Thursday. I'll be lucky if I get any sleep in at all. But hey, who needs sleep? I sure don't. I have a Potions essay."

The two of them turned to face Hermione, ready and waiting to hear a lecture coming from her end. Instead, her cheeks were flushed and she was looking at the floor as she walked. Now and then, she would make eye contact with someone, but Harry and Ron didn't see who.

"What's up with you today, Hermione?" Ron asked. Hermione looked up dazed.

"What?" she asked. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

She looked into his gray eyes once more, only to find them watching her own in confusion. Hermione had no idea what was going on with her these days. No idea at all.

.X.

"I needed to see you," Hermione said as Draco entered the empty classroom later on that week. She had sent a note to him that morning at breakfast. Now, at two o'clock in the morning, there was no chance of them being overheard.

"About what, Granger?" he moaned, yawning and rubbing his eyes. "It's two in the morning."

"I know," she sighed. "It's just that, well, I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Really?" he asked. "I'd be happy to point it out for you."

"Oh, shut up," she said. "It's more serious than that. I've started getting these feelings."

"What kind of feelings?" he asked hesitantly.

"Well, I'm not sure. It's just that when I see you, my stomach goes all jittery. My face gets hot. It's starting to scare me," Hermione confessed. "Do you ever feel like that?"

He was ready to lie and immediately say, "No," but the words wouldn't come. Instead he nodded and looked to the floor.

"Ever since that night..," she drifted off.

"Things haven't been the same between us," he finished. "I know. I feel the same way. I just don't know what to do. My father would kill me if he knew I liked a mud-well, you know."

"Harry and Ron would be furious," Hermione said, placing a hand on her forehead in confusion. "I can't help how I feel. I never thought I would like _you_."

"Same goes for you," he spat. "I don't want to feel like this, it just happened."

Her brown eyes were shining with tears, but they didn't fall. Obviously, she was as confused as she had told him.

"Maybe we could keep it a secret," she suggested. "Not tell anybody."

"We're from two different houses," he reminded her. "If anyone found out.."

"They would hate us," she finished. "I know. I just need to see.."

He nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. He walked towards her, inching in very close to her face. Her brown hair was in her eyes and he tucked a strand of it behind her ears, revealing her wide, sparkling brown eyes.

He leaned in, kissing her so softly, and knew. He knew they would need to keep it a secret. It just felt like the right thing to do. When she kissed him back, they both knew. They knew it wasn't going to be easy, but they couldn't ignore it. Not anymore.

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A/N: I hope that wasn't too cliché. It probably was. I hope you liked it anyways. So, that's my one-shot. I never wrote for that ship, I never even liked it. It just started to fascinate me and I needed to try. Please review.


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